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The non-violent movement for the independence of India appeared difficult to the youth. The youths separated from the moderates and tried to find out alternative ways for the Gandhian policies. In their attempt to find an alternative, they started using violent means and strength as a medium to end the British rule. Bhagat Singh was the main pillar of this policy.  Under Bhagat Singh's leadership in 1928 the freedom fighters established the Hindustan Socialist Republic Association (HSRA). Furthermore, revolutionary activities were also undertaken under Bhagat Singh's leadership. Among them Saunders murder and assembly bombing incidents were the main. The revolutionists led by Bhagat Singh were very radical. B hagat Singh in his trials made it clear that he w.-is not simply undertaking the bombing and other revolutionary activities but he wanted an end to the exploition both within the country and in the foreign to establish a universal social system. Bhagat Singh produced the e...

Critiques say that supporting Khilafat movement by Gandhiji was a backward step the Khilafat Movement was started against the dismemberment of Turkey, dissolution of the institution of the Caliphate. Gandhiji supported the movement, which critics felt was a backward step. But he saw it an opportunity for launching a struggle against the British. However, the critics felt that religion was taken up as a theme which encouraged communal issues.  An analysis of Gandhiji's support shows that in freedom struggle support from all classes and sections of the country was of utmost importance. In Khilafat Movement issue, by supporting the Muslims, Gandhiji attracted a large class of the masses.  Again during the 1919-1922 period, there was a remarkable unity of Hindu-Muslim which was an indication of the success of Gandhiji's policy. By 1916, by the Lucknow Pact, Congress accepted the issue regarding the separate electorates for the Muslim. Gandhi did not have anything to do with this. ...

Entire history of the freedom movement is replete with the saga of bravely, sacrifice and political powers of great women.  (i) Kalpana Datta was a part of a revolutionary brigade in Chittagong that led an armed struggle against British between 1930-34.  (ii) Sarojini Naidu was the first women President of the Indian National Congress in 1925 at Kanpur Session. She actively participated in Satyagraha Movement, Khilafat Movement, Rowlatt act etc. She is popularly known by the sobriquet as ‘The nightingale of India’.  (iii)Bina Das a member of Chatri Sangha in Kolkata, attempted to assassinate Stanley Jackson, Governor of Bengal, in 1932. She later joined Congress and became a member of West Bengal legislative assembly.  (iv) Madam Bhikaji Cama provided bases for India’s revolutionaries in Europe and USA. She organized free India Society and began the journal ‘Vande Mataram’ to spread her revolutionary thoughts.  Other important personages are : Kamla Nehru, Annie...

Mahatma Gandhi’s contribution to achievement of Indian Independence was invaluable. He made the freedom struggle a mass movement, encouraging participation of every section of society.  In Non-cooperation movement, women and youth participation was unprecedented. Peasants and workers also joined the movement after Mahatma Gandhi’s arrival on national scene. Earlier freedom movement was solely restricted to educated upper class.  He also introduced a new method of peaceful satyagraha, based on truth and nonviolence. Britishers had no idea how to deal with it. If they didn’t do anything, then masses were mobilized against them, and if they used force then also masses condemned them. Had he not been there, achievement of Independence would have been more violent.  He conditioned massed for non-violent struggle. For example, in non-cooperation movement this was used on a mass scale for the first time. After the incident of Chauri - Chaura, he realized that people were not pre...

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Mahatma Gandhi were infallibly dedicated to the cause of Indian freedom. They were loved by the masses and feared by the Raj. But between themselves, these two icons of India’s freedom movement shared a rather frosty relationship and history is replete with instances of trenchant differences between them.  Although Subhash Chandra was a follower of Gandhi during the initial days, the later part of the 1930 witnessed a growing radicalization of his thoughts and Bose became increasingly frustrated with the lack of momentum in the independence movement. As Bose started to assert his bold stance in various party forums, it led to a polarization in the Congress party ranks.  Subhash Chandra Bose found himself frequently at loggerheads with Gandhi and their differences often came out in the public. All these bickering reached a climax when Subhash Chandra Bose became Congress President for a second term in 1939 defeating Gandhi-nominated candidate Pat...

M. K. Gandhi is known to be one of the few people who encouraged women’s active participation in the freedom struggle-marking him as a rare promoter of women’s liberation. Women’s entry into national politics through non-violent methods brought miraculous results. On the one hand, women became aware of their inner strength, and on the other, the process brought human and moral elements into politics.  Gandhi had tremendous faith in women’s inherent capacity for non-violence. And his experience of participation by women in politics from his days in South Africa till the end of his life bears testimony to the fact that they never failed his expectations. With Gandhi’s inspiration, they took the struggle right into their homes and raised it to a moral level.  Women organized public meetings, sold Khadi and prescribed literature, started picketing shops of liquor and foreign goods, prepared contraband salt, and came forward to face all sorts of atrocities, including inhuman treatm...